Rheea Mukherjee wears many hats: author, social worker, and, more recently, co-founder of Moonbird Creative, a Bangalore-based creative communications collective. Known for her incisive wit and creative candor, Rheea started Moonbird with two other co-founders in April 2024. A year in, Moonbird stands as a testament to what it means to build human-centric, radically honest, and strategically sharp branding work in a world saturated with noise. This interview dives into Rheea’s journey through disillusionment, creative clarity, and her commitment to building work that centers joy, justice, and genuine collaboration.
What led you to co-found Moonbird Creative, and what felt urgent about this work when you began?
I co-founded Moonbird Creative along with Indu Manohar and our founding creative media producer, Sahithi Sirikonda. We quit our full-time jobs last year because, frankly, we were horrified by what we were becoming. Or more accurately, we found ourselves critiquing the absurdity of hypercapitalism every day, while still very much acting as its willing cogs.
I’ve always believed in interrogating privilege: not to wallow in guilt, but to figure out how to use it in service of something better. We wanted to use the best parts of us because we know we are sharp, funny, emotionally intelligent, and socially relevant, and we wanted to bring that to creative communications and apply them to people and projects that actually give a damn about the world.
At the time (and let’s be honest, it hasn’t changed), we were watching genocide unfold on social media while the professional world marched on with thick-skinned “business as usual” energy. It felt surreal. Disconnected. Unbearable.
So we built Moonbird as a space where we could hold the contradictions, where we could speak up, take creative risks, collaborate with people doing meaningful work, and yes, still make a living. It’s not always easy. It’s occasionally stupid. But living a life that required constant masking felt far more unbearable than the uncertainty of starting something of our own.
Moonbird exists because the world is complicated and often brutal, but we still believe in beauty, clarity, and building things that matter.
What’s one big challenge you’ve faced in your journey so far? How did you navigate it?
Working with cis-het men in business has generally been… off-putting. A lot of them have the imagination of a bucket of microplastics. We’ve found far more meaning and grounded desire to build with women and queer clients. That’s not to say we haven’t had some great male collaborators, but they’re the exception, not the norm.
Another ongoing challenge is cash flow, and having the confidence to charge what we’re worth. Every time we assert our value, someone disappears into the horizon. Some months are great; other months we’re doing mental math about house bills. But we’re lucky, we have supportive partners and families, and that privilege helps us keep going without compromising on our ethics.
We refuse to replicate the exploitation we’ve all suffered through. We pay people fairly. When we hire an intern, they’re actually paid; no “for exposure” nonsense. It costs more to work this way, but that cost should be collective. We have to walk our talk. It’s the only way.
What kind of change are you hoping to create in your industry or community?
We want to reset the bar on the basics.
That means rethinking how people value the so-called “intangible” work of branding, creative communications, and design thinking. These things bring clarity, meaning, and movement to people’s visions. But they’re often treated as fluffy or optional. We want to help build a culture where people pay on time, operate in good faith, and treat collaboration with the dignity it deserves. We want to raise our own standards far above the average, because frankly, the average is dismal.
Our most cherished ambition is to spot brilliant, emerging talent and grow, partner, and build together — shared power means shared joy!
What gap does Moonbird fill, especially in today’s saturated content ecosystem?
We’re living in an era of absolute content saturation. Most people are subconsciously absorbing dozens of calls-to-action per minute, thanks to the relentless churn of Instagram and other social media platforms. Everything is for sale, and I think we’re post–late-stage capitalism at this point. So the question becomes: what happens now?
In that context, I think the gap we’re filling is the ability to be shape-shifters. One day we’re a garden-variety all-women creative team. Another day, we’re protest organisers. Some days, we’re crafting sharp, culturally relevant (sometimes incendiary) events and workshops. Other days, we’re figuring out how to scale a mutual aid fundraiser while making social media posts for a wellness brand.
We’re part agency, part community, and the mix is intentional. We’re building something that doesn’t quite fit into a neat box. It’s a surreal ambition, but honestly, it’s the only one that makes sense to us right now.
What’s next for Moonbird — or for you?
Honestly, who knows? Look at the world right now!
We’re living through cascading crises. And yet, somehow, we keep creating small miracles. Unexpected wins. Real connections.
I’ve come to accept that uncertainty is the norm. But if our values stay intact, I trust we’ll keep moving toward something that matters. That’s our compass. That’s enough.
One day we’re a garden-variety all-women creative team. Another day, we’re protest organisers.
Rheea Mukherjee
